Leane Times
One family’s transformation from Cornish farmers to Australian fighters
Written by Wendy Frew
Edited and produced by Broadcast Books
Wendy Frew’s great-great-grandmother Alice Leane watched five of her sons and six of her grandsons march off to fight during the Great War. For Australians at the time, the Leane men were held up as the epitome of brave patriots willing to fight and die for King and Empire. The Leane women were also regarded highly, although their stories have until now largely been obscured. The men loomed large in Charles Bean’s official history and ‘the Fighting Leanes’ are well known to historians today. Their military achievements were indeed remarkable. They were acknowledged at the time with numerous honours, mentions in despatches, and swift promotions up the ranks.
Yet when the author set out to discover who the ‘real’ men were beyond their impeccable military credentials, she stumbled across a longer, much richer genealogical tale. As the subtitle of this new book suggests, the Leane’s story, was not just a war story. It was also a complex saga of crossed continents and colonisation, and the complicated dynamics of a migrant family in search of prosperity and religious freedom. And a number of extraordinary women too.
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